By Adrian Carrasquillo

The Role of Race

Conventional wisdom at the outset of the general election held that Barack Obama would lose because he would not garner the necessary support from white voters to win the Presidency. His increased support from African-Americans was acknowledged but its potential as a game-changer was largely dismissed. Well, conventional wisdom had the unfortunate drawback of being conventional during an election that was anything but.

Television networks project that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States.

John P. Murtha, D-Pa. won a bitter reelection campaign to the House. Murtha came under fire for saying that parts of Pennsylvania harbored white racists who wouldn't vote for Obama. In the end the Democratic sweep of much of the country surfaced in Pennsylvania as well. Obama's big victory had down ticket effects which helped Murtha win.

North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Indiana are too close to call. The four states hold the key to an Obama landslide. McCain wins seem improbable but if he sweeps the states then the race will tighten up considerably.

Early exit polls show that Obama is winning the Hispanic vote in Florida. Florida's Hispanic vote may go for Obama 55-44. Bush won 56% of the Hispanic vote in 2004. Cubans make up a large proportion of the Hispanic vote in Florida and they are generally more conservative voters. Hispanic voters around the country generally vote Democratic.

A close race in Georgia had McCain worried but in the end one of Obama's dream states stayed red.

Obama kept it close because African-American turnout increased from 25% of the overall electorate in 2004, to 30% tonight.

New Hampshire goes for Obama. Obviously the night isn't looking good for McCain but this state has sentimental value for him. He won in 2000 in the primary against George W. Bush and he came back in the 2008 primary with a victory there. The Granite state has deserted him.

Let's just say for the sake of argument that exit polls aren't notoriously fickle. Let's just assume for a moment that they should be taken with more than a grain of salt. Obama is leading in six battleground states according to the Huffington Post. In all seriousness, Democratic candidates over perform in exit polls and voters who are more enthusiastic and skew younger like Obama's supporters are more likely to participate in exit polls.

The states looking good for Obama:

Florida: 52 percent to 44 percent
Iowa: 52 percent to 48 percent
Missouri: 52 percent to 48 percent

H as in Hold your horses on these exit polls.

And take this one with a grain of salt. Drudge says Obama is up 15 in Pennsylvania

Keith Olbermann, a sage partisan voice of our time, says someone born in 1990 can vote in this election and that in the year 2100 these old-timers will be interviewed about this historic election. I for one appreciate that he incorporated increased life expectancies.